Words and pictures from the author of the Elizabeth Goodweather Appalachian Mysteries

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Great Grand Parents

William Benjamin Northcutt

Born just after the War Between the States

Into red clay Reconstruction Alabama.

A farmer and a farmer's son.

At twenty-two he married

Red-headed, eighteen year old Lucy Camella Glenn

And they moved from Forest Home to Evergreen.

Just over a year and their first child was born

My mother's father, Victor Huborn,

Who told me, how when he was young

His mother took him and his brothers and sisters

(John and Lillie Belle, William and Lallah)

To visit her parents -- a day's drive away.

Coming back at twilight, drowsy children wrapped in quilts ,

A storm came up and the creek they had to ford

Was running high and wild.

"The mules didn't want to cross it,"

The old man told me, leaning forward, his eyes ablaze,

"But that girl, she slapped the lines across their rumps,
Told those mules to 'Git up!'

And we all got home that night."

Eighty some years ago and the memory was so fresh

That I could see my great-grandmother -- 'that girl,'

Determined to get her brood home safe

And out of the wet Alabama woods.

Lucy Camella died when my grandfather was twelve --
And widowed William, no time to grieve
with six young children and a crop in the fields,
Married a handy cousin.
Minnie Lula Northcutt Northcutt
Gave him two more children.
But my grandfather, still grieving
Left home.

27 comments:

Superb photographs, Vicki, but what a life they had. It seems that having a 'handy cousin', following the loss of a partner, sometimes proved to be the only way forward during these hard times. I've found some evidence of this in my own family tree.

Eventually my grandfather became reconciled to the reason for his father's re-marriage and came to speak fondly of 'Cousin Minnie.'

Re red hair, Miss Yves, I think you're right. Didn't Jo of LITTLE WOMEN have trouble selling her red hair? And there's a saying in the South --"treated like a red-headed step child" which means treated like something unwanted.

I don't know for sure, but suspect that my great grandmother must have been recovering from a bad fever which necessitated the short haircut.

How very interesting Vicki. Isn't it wonderful to have the photos too.I hadn't heard that quote about red hair. How sad. Personally, I like red hair very much. However I don't envy the people who have red hair and the skin to match in the strong sunlight you enjoy over there.Might add here that I have never experienced heat or sun like it till I came to Tennessee. In England the sun is rarely overhead and when it is, it is never as searingly hot, EVER. There are day when I feel like I'm going to die over there and yet I see other people walking about seemingly ok with it. Larry calls me his hothouse orchid because I am so delicate about it. Also I drink about three times more water than he does, which is because he is used to the heat and I am not.Blessings, StarBlessings, Star

ahh great portraits and a nice tale. I can feel the wind and wet as she got those mules to cross the creek. I have learned in our family histories too that the women died off and the men married again to get care for the brood and added more.

There's a colonial cemetery in Atlanta in which two wives of one man share a common monumnet dedicated to Lucy and Laura, beloved wives of.... He's not buried with them. I know there's a story there, but so far I haven't been able to find it.

I enjoyed that poetic telling of their story...your story. Ancestors' lives seemed 'hard' in retrospect, but I think usually, when they were 'in it', it didn't necessarily seem hard, it just was what it was. So much of the time, we put our own current emotions into the past, and it was an entirely different time...without something to compare it to, there may not have been much thought about it being 'hard'. You know? Many cultures or lifestyles may seem that way to us...but it isn't to them, it just is what it is...unless and until someone points it out to them. Sorry to run on...just made me think and go...hmmm!

Great story Vicki and love the way you told it. Our ancestors were tough, hardy folks and knew how to 'suck it up and go on'. When the wife died, her sister was also often the next wife to raise her children (and of course add more to the mix!). My Grandmother's mom did that after her sister died. Have a great weekend!Tammy

In a few words you have sketched a fascinating story. Marriage was as much a survival mechanism as a love thing in those days. My own grandmother died young and my grandfather then married her sister, my great aunt, who herself was widowed.

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Who Am I? What Am I Doing Here?

I'm the author of The Elizabeth Goodweather Full Circle Farm Appalachian Mysteries from Bantam Dell. The series includes SIGNS IN THE BLOOD (LA MONTAGNE DES SECRETS in France), ART'S BLOOD, (LE SECRET DES APPALACHES in France,) OLD WOUNDS,IN A DARK SEASON (Anthony Nominee, Best PBO), and UNDER THE SKIN. There's also THE DAY OF SMALL THINGS (a spinoff/standalone)chronicling the unexpected life story of Miss Birdie, one of Elizabeth's neighbors.
Currently I have just completed a historical novel, dealing with a massacre in my county during the Civil War.
I came to this weird business late (my first novel was published in 2005) and am still trying to figure it out.
As my novels are set in a place much like my real life home, I thought I'd use this blog to share pictures of our farm and county. I've been blogging for nearly nine years now, on an almost daily basis, and the topics have ranged from writing, chickens, food, books, quilts, flora and fauna of all sorts, to the occasional tiny rant. There's no plan, but there are lots of pictures.
There's more information about me and my books on my web site: http://vickilanemysteries.com/